


we're bigger than we ever dreamed

by spaceburgers



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M, POV Second Person, don't read if you're expecting plot, pointless fluff tbh, this isn't even 2k don't even bother getting your hopes up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-13
Updated: 2014-06-13
Packaged: 2018-02-04 12:39:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1779460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceburgers/pseuds/spaceburgers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wherein Makoto and Haru are princes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	we're bigger than we ever dreamed

**Author's Note:**

> *This is a birthday fic for Katie so happy birthday Katie!!!!!!!!!! I rushed out this shitty fic for you because you and I both need more royalty AU in our lives. I would be the one to fill that void except I can't write, hence this weird barely-2k-words thing. ANYWAY I hope you're having a great birthday, may you have a wonderful year ahead, and please stop being such a furry.
> 
> *Title from Royals (yeah, THAT Royals) because I'm total and utter trash.

You are five and he is six when you first meet.

Your father bows and your mother curtsies, and that’s how you know that these strangers are important people. You look at them closely—a man and a woman, quite like your own parents themselves. They stand tall, smile pleasantly, bow in turn as well.

And slightly behind them stands a boy, perhaps close to your own age. He looks… he looks bored, really, looking around him lazily as if trying to find something to occupy himself.

You cling to your father’s legs and peer at the boy from behind them. You don’t have a lot of friends—the people who live in or visit the castle are all grown-ups, and you’re not allowed out of the castle, not yet, your mother says it’s too dangerous for you to go venturing out on your own, your father says it is your duty as the prince to mind your own domain first before you can take care of your people.

So this is the first time you’ve ever had a potential playmate, and… well, you're _scared_ , honestly.

The boy doesn’t look very friendly. He looks like he couldn’t quite care less about you. He won’t even _look_ you in the eye, which is awful, and you’re stuck somewhere in between wanting the boy to actually look at you and wanting to just run away.

But your father bends down and smiles, ruffles your hair and tells you, “Go on, Makoto, go play with your new friend,” and you look up at him with eyes wide and pleading.

All he does is laugh at that, and your mother says to the visiting man and lady, “Our Makoto’s a little bit shy, but I’m sure he’ll warm up to Haruka soon, won’t you, Makoto?”

Maybe it’s the sound of the name that triggers it, but on those words the boy finally looks up, and the intensity of that gaze immediately makes you freeze in place—his eyes are a clear, piercing blue, and for a moment you stop fidgeting and stop pleading and just… stare.

Then the boy looks away and the moment passes, and you’re left blinking, confused, unsure of what just happened between the both of you.

“Go on,” your father says, nudging you in the boy’s direction. “Go play with Haruka while we discuss some official matters, okay?”

You look at your father, then you look back at the boy.

“…okay,” you say, hesitantly, and try to smile.

-

You don’t meet again until many years later. You are thirteen and he is fourteen, and if it weren’t for your parents you would have probably forgotten his name by now.

“Prince Haruka,” you say, nodding, remembering your manners. You’re vaguely aware of your parents standing behind you, and out of the corner of your eye you can see them nodding approvingly at you, and you take it to be a good sign.

“Prince… Makoto,” he returns, unsure, and you smile.

“It’s a pleasure,” you say, and you’re not quite sure why the blue of his eyes is so familiar to you, but it is.

-

You meet sporadically over the next few years—your kingdoms have been growing steadily closer thanks to the efforts of your parents, as well as Prince Haruka’s. You know you are expected to continue this tradition when you inherit the throne when you turn twenty-one, which basically explains all the efforts to make you and Prince Haruka best friends.

Which… you don’t actually mind, because you like seeing Prince Haruka. Even if it is a little stilted, and formal, and you don’t actually know much about him. But somehow it just feels comfortable in this presence, even though he’s quiet most the time, and doesn’t say much—still, it’s nice, just talking to him, and you can just tell that he’s listening, even when it looks like he’s not.

You… you like spending time with Prince Haruka. You like telling him about the happenings in your kingdom, how the people are doing, what events have happened recently, and about the castle as well—about the twins, your brother and sister that you cherish more than anything else in the world, about the servants and the maids and the other lords and ladies who don’t seem to care for anything other than their extravagant lifestyle.

Sometimes you tell him about your worries too—how you’re not sure how you’re ever going to be able to fill your father’s shoes, how you feel more like a boy and less like a prince who’s going to inherit the throne in a few years, how afraid you are of just messing everything up—

“You’ll do fine,” Prince Haruka says, once, looking down at his lap. It takes a long moment for the words to register, but when it does you look up, eyes widening, smile spreading across your face until you’re grinning almost maniacally.

“Thank you, Prince Haruka,” you say, quietly.

The conversation lapses into silence after that, but it’s comfortable, you’ve grown used to the gaps in between sentences whenever you’re with Prince Haruka, and—

“…Haru,” he murmurs, so quietly you almost miss it.

“Sorry? I didn’t hear that,” you say apologetically, and Prince Haruka turns away.

“Haru,” he repeats, louder this time. “You can just call me Haru.”

“Oh,” you say, softly, like the wind has just been knocked out of you. You’re… not quite sure what just happened. You can’t quite believe what’s happening either—it just feels all too surreal to you, but you somehow manage to smile and nod.

“Okay,” you say. “Haru.”

He finally turns to look at you, then, and he’s smiling, just the corners of his lips upturned the slightest bit.

You’re blushing, and you’re not quite sure why, but you just keep on smiling, as if it’s going to make everything go back to normal again.

-

You figure it out when you’re twenty and he’s twenty-one.

You’re there at his coronation ceremony, and you’re sitting amongst the crowd, watching as Haru walks up the steps, the long blue ceremonial coat pinned to his shoulders, dragging along the ground as he walks. He has his head held high, shoulders drawn back, and in all the years that you’ve known Haru, you’ve never seen him like _this_ before—regal. Noble.

Like a real prince.

You watch as he bows his head, his father pressing the crown onto his head with both hands, smiling fondly the whole while. You watch as Haru straightens up, the crown a perfect fit on top of his head. He turns to face the crowd, standing firm, eyes fixed onto some unknown point at the back of the hall.

“I give you,” the king— _no, not the king anymore_ —proclaims, “King Haruka.”

The crowd rises, then, and you get to your feet too, a beat slower than everyone else. You’re too busy staring at Haru, staring at your _friend_ , at the piercing blue of his eyes, and that’s when it all clicks into place.

 _He’s beautiful_ , you think, like a bolt from the blue, the realisation sliding into place abruptly.

_You think you might be in love with him._

Your heart is hammering in your chest, and you barely register what’s going on around you when everyone around you echoes, in unison:

“King Haruka!”

You look at Haru, standing poised in front of his throne, and all you can think of is that bored-looking six-year-old from so long ago.

Haru’s eyes meet yours from across the room, and just like that day all those years ago, you find that you cannot bring yourself to look away.

-

The day after the ceremony, you find yourself sitting with Haru in his garden, under the shade of an old tree that has sheltered the both of you for so many years. It’s a familiar spot, and you can almost kid yourself that you’re both children without responsibilities once more—not a king and a king-to-be who will both soon be too busy to meet up like this anymore.

“Congratulations,” you find yourself saying, even though it's the exact opposite of what you’re thinking. You know, now that Haru’s king, that he won’t be able to spend time with you like this anymore. This will probably be the last visit you will be able to pay him that’s strictly non-business.

You hate it. You can’t bear the thought of not being able to spend time with Haru anymore, like this.

You’re in love with him. The thought hits you, all over again, and it… it just makes sense, the more you think about it.

You wonder how long this has carried on for. You wonder how come it took so long for you to realise.

“Makoto,” Haru says, and it jolts you out of your thoughts. You blink, turning to look at Haru.

His face is _so close_ and—

He leans in and kisses you.

You don’t even realise that’s happening until Haru’s already pulling away, and something seizes you all of a sudden, makes you reach out to hold Haru by the back of his neck, pull him in again for you to finally, properly reciprocate the kiss, and it’s everything you didn’t even know you were dreaming of.

It’s just a chaste kiss, the slightest brush of his lips against yours, but it still leaves you breathless, makes your head spin, the blood roaring in your ears.

“ _Haru_ ,” you breathe.

“Sorry if that was weird,” Haru says, and he’s still _way_ too close, you can see the flutter of his eyelashes against his cheek, the curve of his nose and the way he’s got his bottom lip caught between his teeth, and _oh—_

“No,” you say hastily, “not at all.” Your face is so hot, but Haru’s face is red too, and you press your thumb to his cheek. “I wanted to do that.”

“Me too,” he says, after a moment, and you can’t stop smiling. You don’t think you’re ever going to stop smiling.

-

Later, you will talk about how this is going to work. You’ll talk about mergers and the possibility of uniting the two kingdoms, and how _technically_ as the kings of your respective kingdoms you have the right to do whatever the hell you want, but you know you would never do anything rash. Later, much later, you will convince your parents and argue with your advisors and do whatever it takes so that you can be with Haru, so that your status as kings won’t stand in the way of things.

But for now—for now, you close your eyes, lean in as you kiss Haru again, and again, and again, and you know, for a fact, that you’re in love.

 


End file.
